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Topic: Sega Megadrive Must Have Games (Read 5155 times)

It's part shoot em up and part tactical. You have to capture bases by creating troops in your robot form then airlifting them in your jet form to where you need them on the map then give them orders to either attack, patrol or claim a base. When you capture a base it gives you extra cash revenue to buy more troops. You have to be careul of fuel in the game too as you and your troops rely on it. It's not an easy game to pick up on how to play but when you get used to it, it's great fun. Also much better in 2 player mode.

Landstalker: best action-adventure for me. It takes a bit to get into the controls, but the vast and complex dungeons, great visuals and atmosphere make this a Zelda-III-killer for me.

Revenge of Shinobi: Best Ninja game ever, and the first game that made the MD truly feel like next-gen. Perfect design, crazy enemies, great soundtrack and stylish graphical style.

Monster World IV: A great, great platformer with slight RPG elements; and the last game in the Wonder Boy-franchise. It was not officially released in the west, but two fan translations are available. In 2012 it was finally officially released in English as a download game for Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360

Langrisser II: Japan-only, but a translation patch is available. Absolutely wonderfull strategy RPG, the best in the genre to this day for me.

Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition: My favourite 16-bit game in the series.

Phantasy Star IV: Great JRPG, often overlooked but like FF VI it introduced much better dramaturgy to RPGs than before, in this case through excellent Manga-cutscenes

Pier Solar: I am biased since I worked on this myself. But I honestly like the game very much.

Streets of Rage 2: Best brawler on the system; big improvement over part 1, while part 3 is inferior graphically and in sound. Part 2 is the peak of the series.

Sonic 2: Highlight of the Sonic series.

Shining Force 2: A little improvement here and there from its predecessor.

Contra: Hard Corps/Probotector: Even tougher than other Contra games, but a sensational ride full of explosions, huge enemies and different game variations

Shinobi 3: Good sequel to Revenge of Shinobi with some gameplay improvements like a faster pace; but it is more cartoonish, the level design a bit inferior and the music not of the same standard. Also the horse riding and surfing feel out of place.

Story of Thor: Wonderful action-adventure with gorgeous graphics. A bit short though.

Turtles: Hyperstone Heist: A bit like a shorter version of Turtles in Time, yet with different levels and bosses. Good graphics and great sound.

Mega Turrican: Best in the Turrican series for me. Largely ignored, as the game was developed and finished early in 1993 but did not find a publisher until 1994 when more competition like Contra came.

Aladdin: The most beautiful graphics that were ever seen when it was released in 1993... on any system. It absolutely destroys the SNES game from Capcom visually, and gameplay is fine too!

Shadow Dancer: Despite the title this game is totally different from the arcade and all other ports; and much better.

Shining Force: Wonderful game that made the strategy RPG genre popular in the west.

Soleil: Nice Zelda-clone. Very nice graphics and gameplay, but a bit short and with a rushed ending.

World of Illusion: Beautifully animated and very playable jump' n run. Depending on whether the player selects Mickey or Donald, or two players are present the solutions to levels differ. Especially teamwork sections in 2-player-mode are fun. Only problem: it is very easy.

Warsong: Predecessor to Langrisser II. rough around the edges, but still very nice.

Toejam & Earl: Imagine a roguelike, that is, a game where you wander through randomly generated levels, collect new items, and hope they don't backfire on you horribly. Now imagine that instead of your standard fantasy setting, you're on Earth. And your weapons are things like boomboxes, inflatable decoys, and tomatoes. Now imagine that this is all real time, and you've got evil dentists and guys with lawnmowers chasing you. Basically, it's a really fun game with some great music, with a really interesting way of handling co-op, too.

Ristar: Although there'd be a few more games they'd release after words, this game is basically Sega's big goodbye to the Genesis/Megadrive, and they put everything they had into it. You've got some of the most colorful graphics you'll see on the hardware, a great soundtrack, and a lot of secrets to find, including a fun Boss Rush mode. Probably one of the best platformers you'll find on the system, and very much up there with the best of the Sonic games.

Weaponlord: Well, this got a SNES port, too, but the Genesis version has a few cheap exploits removed, so it's coming up here. Weaponlord is a beautiful console-exclusive fighting game with a Conan-style setting, characters with a lot of special moves and tactics to use, and plenty of violence. A word of warning: If you're one of those people who finds themselves getting symied by a two hit combo in Street Fighter, this will not be your game. This is probably one of the most technical fighting games of the time, with a rather unusual method of inputting special moves. But if you can handle it, it's probably the deepest fighting game you'll find on the system. It's almost like a 2D Soul Calibur, in places.

Got to say Road Rash 2 loved the game still play it today while travelling via emulators. Can't beat punching, kicking, clubbing and chaining people while racing at high speed with a questionable sound track lol

I have a pretty modest MD collection - needs some work I guess! But here's my favourites :

Sub Terrania Terrific gravity shooter (a la Thrust and Gravitar). Great physics and really detailed graphics.Toki Rock hard but I prefer it to the arcade version. Really solid gameplay.Klax Really nice port of the excellent puzzle game with nice 2 player option.Quackshot My favourite of the Disney platformers of the 16bit era. Love the music and the use of the plunger gun.Micro Machines '96 Turbo Tournament Definitive versionNew Zealand Story Megadrive gets a brilliant version of one of my favourite games. Remixed levels which I like.Space Invaders '91 Excellent update. I'm a sucker for Space Invaders and this one adds some nice ideas and is pretty tough.Dragon's Fury Think this is a port of a PC-engine game? Don't care - I played this on MD first! Excellent development of the pinball genre.Frogger A bit old hat now but this is a pretty accurate port of an old arcade favourite of mine and I don't recall playing this on any other consoles since the 2600.Ms. Pacman The maze may scroll which is a bit of a compromise but you get a stack of new mazes to try and really nice 2 player options with this - including simultaneous modes.Thunderforce IV Brilliant famous hori-shmup Desert Strike Best at home on the MD - the original and best for me.Arnold Palmer Golf Me and my mates had hours of fun with this.Ayrton Senna Super Monaco GP Stunning game - I think it still looks good today. Great arcade mode backed up by a big season mode for longer term play.Battletoads Yep - RARE broke rank and ported the NES game to the MD! Slightly improved graphics (though the sound isn't quite as good for some odd reason) and a welcome slight turning down of the difficulty make this a great game.Block Out 3D tetris. Brain numbingly hard - but well presented with comprehensive options and basic but clear graphics which are essential for this type of game.Ecco the Dolphin Original, beautiful game with excellent control and really tough puzzly gameplay.

Have all of these apart from Super Monaco, Desert Strike and Arnold Palmer golf - will pick them up eventually - I like to have CIB and in good condition so it takes more time.

Golden Axe 2: Another game that rarely seems to get much love but I find it's old school bum-chopping great fun

Might and Magic: Gate to Another World: A huge, exciting world to explore with a hand-made party of explorers and vast choice of spells, skills and equipment. Damned hard early on but grows into one of the best RPGs I have played.

Phantasy Star 4: And then we have the single greatest RPG on the Megadrive. The first RPG I played in which a primary character dies and it was a massive awakening to me making me realise games are not always cookie cutter stories.

Soliel: As a man who dislikes Zelda games this should have been the bane of my life but heck, I just love Soliel. The mixture of abilities that be garnered by mixing and matching animals make for a very diverse game style and the puzzle solving is excellently conceived.

Star Flight: A massive and exciting space opera with hundreds of worlds to visit, numerous races to learn about and make alliances with and upgrades to ship and crew.

Story of Thor: Another excellent Action RPG with some memorable characters, beautiful graphics and brilliant puzzles to be solved with the aid of the spirits.

Streets of Rage 2: Although it nearly cost me my marriage (coop with your wife is not good if you keep killing her accidentally..) this is the definitive Bean Em Up of the 4th gen Consoles.

Turrican: As with mega Turrican, not the best version but a must have for any shooter fanatic!

Wiz n liz: Another game Mr and Mrs Tachi played together but this one we love. Excellent fun, brilliant soundtrack and just the right level of difficulty to keep you coming back for more!